In 1845 Governor Charles La Trobe set aside a reservation of 10.36 square kilometres for the new Royal Park as parkland and open space. Over the next one hundred and twenty years the area was significantly reduced with land allocations for Parkville residential areas, the Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens (1861), Royal Melbourne Hospital (1944) and Royal Children’s Hospital (1957). Of historical note, in 1860 the Burke and Wills expedition set out from Royal Park to cross Australia from south to north.

This view by Albert Aldis of Royal Park in summer, 1892, looks towards the Melbourne Zoo in the distance. Opened in October 1862 and modelled on the London Zoo, the Melbourne Zoo, Australia’s oldest, covers an area of 22 hectares. Today, with an area of 181 hectares, Royal Park is the largest of Melbourne's inner city parks.